Material sustainability evaluation of electrocatalysts in early-stage development

Sustainable energy materials for energy storage applications are crucial for a reliable energy transition. However, evaluating material sustainability in early stages of energy material research is a big challenge, as it is difficult to predict the final industrial process and supply chain of the investigated material. In this work we showcase that a sustainability evaluation can already be conducted in the early stage of electrocatalyst research. We provide a case study of two highly active alkaline oxygen evolution catalysts La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ and La0.6Ca0.4FeO3-δ with a thin film model catalyst approach. For the sustainability evaluation, we consider the material criticality, compare precursor prices, conduct an environmental impact analysis of the precursors based on life cycle assessment and provide a qualitative discourse for social impacts of raw material extraction. We find that La0.6Ca0.4FeO3-δ has a reduced environmental footprint, smaller precursor supply risk and 10 times lower precursor price compared to La0.6Sr0.4CoO3-δ. However, for both perovskites the high environmental impact and high supply risk of lanthanum is of immediate concern towards larger scale application purposes. Sustainability evaluation in the early stages of energy material research can be a great chance to develop new material selection strategies leveraging sustainability in later stages of materials research for the energy transition.